You know what day is coming up when love is in the air and pink candy is in the supermarket aisles.

Valentine’s Day is a time for counting all that we love, including our love of hacking every opportunity to learn Chinese!

And—surprise!—it’s coming around again a second time this year for all you Chinese learners.

In celebration of this heartfelt time of year, we’re going to explore Chinese Valentine’s Day, and some key vocabulary and phrases we can master around this holiday.

What’s Chinese Valentine’s Day?

Yes, the Chinese have their own Valentine’s Day. It’s not related to Saint Valentine and doesn’t fall in February.

Chinese Valentine’s Day, 中国情人节(zhōng gúo qíng rén jié), is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, which usually falls in August. For that reason, Chinese Valentine’s Day is also called七夕節(qī xī jié) or Double Seven Festival.

In 2016, this Chinese holiday is going to fall on August 9th.

As with many romantic traditions, the origin of Chinese Valentine’s Day comes from ancient Chinese myth.

The Story Behind Chinese Valentine’s Day

织女 (zhī nü), whose name means Weaver Girl, was the daughter of a goddess. Zhinü fell in love with a mortal, 牛郎 (niú láng), whose name means Cowherd.

They married secretly, and lived happily together, until their relationship was discovered by Zhinü’s mother. Furious, Zhinü’s mother sought to split the couple apart.

Zhinü’s mother used her superpowers to remove Zhinü from her husband Niulang—she stretched a long river in the heavens between them, also known as the Milky Way. Today, when you look up to the night sky, you can see Zhinü represented by the star Vega and Niulang represented by the star Altair.

Once a year, all the magpies in the world take pity on this couple and form a bridge called 鹊桥 (què qiáo) “the bridge of magpies” to reunite them on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

The one day in the year on which Zhinü and Niulang can meet is Chinese Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day in China Today

Even though the story of Zhinü and Niulang is ancient folklore, Valentine’s Day is still a big deal in China today.

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